| Part 1: Chapter 2 |
| The steady drip-drop of the leaky roof grated his nerves as he hugged his grandmother to him. �Don�t die on me now,� he whispered fiercely. �Goodbye, Friat,� she gasped. �Take care of yourself�� He looked into her eyes, searching for the merry twinkle that was always there. He saw only cold death. He laid her down on the bed and fled from the one room shack in the Mire. After seeing the death of the only person left in his life who was worth loving, he could never go back. * * * * * The mage awoke and got up to check on his travelling companion. He discovered his charge sitting up in bed reading a book, one foot out of the covers and idly swinging back and forth next to the bed. �Ah, you�re awake,� he said to the girl. She looked up and he smiled at her. �Good morning Mern,� she said to him, smiling back. �Risanna, haven�t you looked out the window?� he asked her, failing to notice her wince and crossing her room to pull the curtain away from the small window to let in the afternoon sunlight. �It�s more like good afternoon.� �Don�t remind me that there�s a world out there,� she moaned, �especially if the weather�s sunny. If you insist on making me stay cooped up in this room, please don�t rub it in. I can�t stand being locked up in here much longer. Also, if you won�t be called anything but Mern, at least try to remember that I don't like being called Risanna. Call me Risa, please.� �Alright Risa,� Mern sighed resignedly. �It just that �Risa� is not a name suitable for a king�s niece.� �It�s suitable for a mage, Mernellin,� Risa said acidly, emphasising his full name. It was Mern�s turn to wince. �I get the point,� he growled. �I�m really sorry that your confinement bothers you so much, but it�s for your own good. It�s dangerous out there.� He sighed at her snort of disbelief. �I�m off to search again. Wish me luck.� �Good luck,� Risa said with a touch of bitterness, returning to her book. Mern shrugged and closed the door behind him. Crossing through the common room and ignoring what people were doing there, he nodded to the innkeeper and headed out the door. Returning to yesterday�s alley, he settled down for a number of hours' worth of standing and searching. * * * * * Ky concentrated hard as she beat the red-hot iron with a mallet. If her concentration slipped for even a moment then she�d mess up the horseshoe. One more mess up meant the streets for her. Master Thom had not appreciated the six silver bits her last accident had cost. A tritch-bird in a tree outside the forge suddenly burst out of the greenery, a hawk in hot pursuit. Ky�s grip slipped for a bare moment, but it was long enough for the mallet to slip so that it hit the side of the half-formed horseshoe. Ky looked at the bit of iron in dismay. She could tell right away that any attempt to fix the horseshoe would only make it worse. She glanced around for Master Thom and, not spotting him in the forge with her, she knew he must be upstairs in the living quarters. �Good,� she whispered fervently, turning back to the anvil and the ruined horseshoe. �I might have a chance to melt this down and start again.� She picked up the iron using a pair of tongs and walked over to the fire. Just as she was about to drop the metal in, she heard a creak. It was Master Thom coming down the stairs. Ky froze. As soon as Master Thom caught sight of the ruined horseshoe, his face began to turn purple. His eyes bulged as if they might pop out of his face and fall to the dusty, ash-covered floor. He lifted a shaking finger and pointed to the forge door. �Out!� he shrieked at Ky. �That�s the last time you ruin work for me! Out!� Ky nodded unhappily, set the iron and the tongs down and trudged out of the forge into the street. As she was walking, she startled a hawk from a nearby bush. She remembered the hawk chasing a tritch and crouched down to look under the bush. Spotting nothing at first, she took a closer look and she saw the broken body of the tritch lying against the trunk of the bush. �Oh,� Ky frowned. �I�m sorry, little one.� she whispered. She dug a small hold with a stick, deposited the dead bird inside, then filled it in and placed a small cairn of stones over the grave. She stood, bowed her head for a moment, then continued down the path towards the nearby city of Daishan. A few minutes along the path Ky came to the city gates. A guard holding a pike stood on either side on the wide stone arch, in front of the open gates. Above the arch was a plaque bearing the words �Mire Gate�. Perhaps I will find a smith in need of an apprentice, she thought to herself, and walked into Daishan. She wandered the streets of the Mire, in a half daze with worry over how she was going to feed herself with no money and no job prospects. She paused at the mouth of an alley, hunched with the weight of her glum thoughts. What could she do? A hand fell on her shoulder and drew her into the alley, and the only thing stopping her from screaming was the hand her assailant held over her mouth. |